Authored by Philip A.S. Milley, Associate Director, Legal Affairs Last August the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) transitioned its website to a new domain: www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency.html. At that time we reported that charities were obligated, as a result of the changing CRA website address, to update their donation receipts to reflect the new domain. CRA has recently… More

Authored By Philip A.S. Milley Associate Director, Legal Affairs Today the Hon. Bill Morneau tabled Budget 2018, which includes supplemental information. Like Budget 2017, which we previously reviewed, Budget 2018 contains few references to charities. The first, on page 189, relates to a pledge to clarify the rules on political activities to allow… More

Charities are often unaware of the rules regarding their involvement in political activities. Charities are permitted to participate in political activities, which includes the ability to speak to current and ongoing public policy issues. Charities are permitted, subject to limited exemptions, to spend up to 10% of its resources on political activities that are… More

On January 2, 2018, the Ontario Government website regarding “Rules for not-for-profit and charitable corporations” was amended to notify that the Ontario Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“ONCA”) is targeted to come into force in “early 2020”. This announcement comes on the heels of changes to the Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017 which took… More

Authored by Philip A.S. Milley, Associate Director, Legal Affairs For over thirteen years, the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) policy on the advancement of religion has not been updated. Over the past number of years, there has been a concern that the scope of this charitable head might be narrowed, and… More

Authored by Philip A.S. Milley, Associate Director, Legal Affairs Outlined below are significant legislative amendments to and inclusions in the Alberta Employment Standards Code (the “ESC”) and Labour Relations Code (the “LRC”), which come into effect on January 1, 2018. These changes will affect all provincially-regulated employers in the Province… More